The Maryland Terrapins, led by senior Dez Wells and his 27 points, crushed the pesky Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, 93-57 at Xfinity Center.
The Terrapins (2-0) looked to put away the Blue Devils (0-2) early but Central Connecticut had other ideas. Maryland’s Jon Graham (eight points) made a layup to give his team a 19-6 lead midway through the first half.
But the Blue Devils went on a run, and a basket from Matt Mobley, who led his team in scoring with 24 points, closed the gap to 28-22 with 4:44 to play in the half.
The Terrapins responded with a full court press and went on a 10-4 run to lead 38-26 at the half.
In the second half the Terrapins outscored Central Connecticut 55-31 to pull away. A Jake Layman ( 14 points) three pointer gave the Terps a 49-32 lead with just over 16 minutes to go.
A Wells passionate dunk made the score 58-36 with just over 13 minutes to play. Freshman Dion Wiley ( 10 points) hit a three to increase the lead to 73-41 with just over nine minutes to play.
The Terps never let up in the second half and a break away layup by reshirt senior transfer Richaud Pack ( eight points, four assists) gave Maryland a 91-52 lead.
The Terrapins had their largest lead of 41 points with 1:54 to play in the game. By then Coach Mark Turgeon had the second team in along with Graham to finish the game.
Maryland center Damonte Dodd made the most of his time on the court. He finished with seven points, five rebounds and four blocked shots in 16 minutes of play.
Freshman Melo Trimble had 10 points, a team-high nine rebounds and four assists.
The Terps held Central Connecticut to a 35.4 shooting percentage, while Maryland shot 55.6 from the field, including going 10-23 from three point range. The Terps also won the rebounding battle 40-31.
The Blue Devils from the Northeast Conference, got 11 points from Khalen Cumberlander, and he and Mobley scored 22 of their 26 first half points. Mustafa Jones led the team with six rebounds while scoring six points in a losing effort.
